Two (or more) gerunds in the subject of the sentence will normally take the plural form of the verb:

– Drinking and golfing are both cool

But two or more gerunds can take a singular form of the verb, which implies the actions are done simultaneously:

– Drinking and golfing is fun (i.e. drinking while golfing is fun)

The possessive case of a noun or pronoun should be used to modify a gerund:

That doctor’s writing resembles a five year old’s.

Because a gerund is a NOUN, the object pronoun CANNOT precede it. You wouldn’t say “this is me book”; you would say “this is my book”. The rules for gerunds are the same as the rules for nouns (“book”, in the previous examples).

The above example may be the trickiest issue with gerunds. Participles look the exact same as gerunds (an -ING form of a verb), but these are NOT gerunds: participles act as adjectives and can be preceded by an object pronoun, or the plain form of a noun (unlike gerunds). It’s easy to confuse the two, so here’s an example:

I saw Jim singing (singing is a participle describing Jim. I saw Jim; I didn’t see singing. Think of it this way: “I saw Jim unhappy” works the same way. Unhappy is an adjective, not a noun.)

I admired Jim’s singing (“singing” is a gerund, and is the direct object of the verb admire: What did I admire? I admired his singing)

I love this!!! You can answer all my grammar questions–ok wait–grammer questions or grammatical questions? I’m not sure I want you to read my blog as solidarity like fellow bloggers do. I could be very embarrassed! But if I follow your’s, I am sure mine will improve! 🙂

I’ve only seen a few of your entries, but I like how you present these grammar points. (You’re probably thinking, “duh!”)

Question, is it correct to say this:
“I watched my nephew play basketball.”? I know that you can say “I saw my nephew playing basketball.” I once corrected someone I was teaching because she said “I watched my nephew playing basketball.” Is it because of the verb? You “see” the state of nouns, therefore you use an adjective/participle, and you “watch” nouns perform actions. Therefore, you need a verb? If so, what grammar topic does this concern?

Tell me if I just answered my own question, because that would be totally cool! Thanks!

P.S.
Another question. How can a verb in the passive form have a direct object? Isn’t that already the subject of the sentence? This is in reference to the comment you made above.

P.P.S. (You’re probably starting to hate me at this point.)
If noun=male, verb=female, aux verbs & prepositions=kids. Then, what are adjectives? And are articles oldtimers with canes?

With regards to question 1, yes, I believe you have answered your own question, and probably more succinctly than I would have. Well done! About question 2, my comment above wasn’t actually relating to grammar at all; it was just a joke (a fairly offside one at that) in regards to the previous comment. Hope there wasn’t too much confusion there. (I do, after all, have to maintain my grammatical integrity with a blog like this, don’t I?) 🙂
Haha! I’m not sure what the adjective in the second sentence (fun) is supposed to be. Androgynous, I suppose?

Today, an ESL friend of mine asked if this sentence was correct: “Skiing is my favourite sport.” I said it was correct and it sounds correct, but I can’t think of the grammatical reasoning behind it. Help?

Hello there, There’s no doubt that your blog could possibly be having internet browser compatibility issues.
When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however, when opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues.
I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up!